Page 18 of Conquered Obstacles

“Hades!” I gasped, immediately dropping the whip when I realized it was him. I held up my hands and backed away from him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—I didn’t realize it was—”

“I’m fine, Sister,” he whispered. “Don’t touch her. Back away.”

“She’s broken,” Hera chuckled darkly. “I didn’t kill her, but I did win.”

“Shut up, you beast,” Poseidon snapped.

“She’s right,” I choked out as I sank to my knees. “All I want is the strength to end her so I can stop living in fear she’ll finish what she started. The dream has changed, but she’ll still—it’s not over.”

“I won’t let her hurt you, Sister,” Hades muttered. “I swore that to you, and I will keep my promise.” He moved to kneel in front of me. “What happened tonight?”

I blinked at his hands that were near me but didn’t touch mine. Then I looked at the blood on my hands… Hera’s blood. “The nightmare changed after all of these years. It scared me.”

That probably made no sense to him—it didn’t to me, but I was so fixated on the blood.

And then it was gone.

I looked up at his face and wanted to cry when I saw how cold and distant his once-kind eyes were. “I’m sorry I ruined everything. I ruined us.”

“You ruined nothing. You were right that there is still time and we can fix it all. I have faith in you still—in us. Have faith in us too, Sister.” He offered me a hand, and I knew it was a challenge more than an offer for help.

Still, I took it. He was reaching out to me, and after abandoning Hades to the underworld, I would always take it.

He stood and brought me to the now-cleaned-up and healed Hera.

And she had to be gagged if she was quiet. He touched her and I felt a surge of power.

My eyes went too wide and he smirked, nodding that he’d done exactly as I’d thought. He’d given me some of her power.

I didn’t know how to handle that—any of this or what I’d done, so I left.

I just went home, not thinking about how I looked or the state I was in.

And the horror on Colton’s face at the condition I was in when I appeared in my kitchen probably said exactly what I looked like.

The shock on my face at him sitting at my kitchen table in only boxer briefs eating my fucking leftover dinner was probably the only thing that snapped him out of his surprise.

He cleared his throat and focused back on the food. “I apologize, but I woke sitting here with my staff in hand. I was depleted, and there was blood on my staff. I’m not going to ask what happened or why you brought me here, but I was starving, and you weren’t here. So… Please don’t send me back yet. I’m shaky and…”

I sank to the ground and was grateful when he stayed where he was and didn’t come help me, didn’t touch me. It took me several minutes before I could calm my racing heart or make my mouth work, still overloaded from the power Hades gave me.

The first thing I did was use my power to clean myself up and then I went to the fridge for something to drink, bringing him a water as well. I didn’t sit with him but leaned against the counter.

“The nightmare changed tonight,” I admitted, thinking it was only fair for him to know that if he had been involved. “It started as normal but you killed Aesop instead of what really happened. Jamie and Demarcus killed the others while Isiah broke the magic that had been placed on my temple. I woke and went to confront Hera where she’s being kept.”

He frowned. “So who’s blood was on my staff? It couldn’t have been his.”

“I don’t think anyone,” I said after a minute. “It would be on the table if it had been real. You were dressed in my nightmare. It was probably some sort of echo. Maybe you were dreaming of me at the same time or—Isiah and Jamie would be in some state of the dream as well if I had really involved you all. Demarcus is awake.”

He slowly nodded before raising his head, giving me a look full of such sorrow it twisted my insides. “I wish that was what happened. Truly. If it was within my power or I could have—I would have made that your reality, Arabella. Even if it meant I was never born.”

And the fool truly meant it. He would have sacrificed his whole damn family tree so I’d never been brutalized and suffered for thousands of years.

I didn’t know what to say to that or how to handle his feelings when my own were such a mess. I looked over at my empty living room area and made the same couch I had in the apartment appear. After studying it a few moments, I made it bigger to fit the space and a different color for the lighting.

Then I added the blankets he liked and a few pillows.

That was my permission for him to stay. Hopefully, I’d made that clear.

---